RIO DE JANEIRO — The Olympics are as much about what warms the heart or initiates debate as who wins the medals. But what warms the heart or initiates debate can be a matter of perspective in a sprawling event that brings together more than 200 nations and territories.
里約熱內(nèi)盧——在奧運(yùn)會(huì)上備受關(guān)注的,除了贏得獎(jiǎng)牌的運(yùn)動(dòng)員,還有溫暖人心亦或引發(fā)爭論的事情。但在一場把200多個(gè)國家和地區(qū)匯聚起來的盛大活動(dòng)中,事情會(huì)溫暖人心還是會(huì)引發(fā)爭論,可能與看待問題的角度有關(guān)。
There was little division on Tuesday in the Olympic Stadium, when two runners — Abbey D’Agostino of the United States and Nikki Hamblin of New Zealand — offered a helping hand to each other after a collision in the 5,000 meters and then urged each other on to the finish.
周二的奧林匹克體育場內(nèi),當(dāng)兩位賽跑選手——美國的阿貝·達(dá)戈斯蒂諾 (Abbey D’Agostino)和新西蘭的尼基·漢布林(Nikki Hamblin)——在5000米項(xiàng)目中相撞,卻相互扶持、相互敦促著跑向終點(diǎn)的時(shí)候,人們的看法基本沒有分歧。
“I mean, that girl is the Olympic spirit right there,” Hamblin said afterward, speaking to reporters about D’Agostino.
“我是說,那個(gè)女孩是奧林匹克精神的化身,”事后對記者談及達(dá)戈斯蒂諾時(shí),漢布林這樣說道。
But on Sunday in the women’s marathon, when the German twins and training partners Anna and Lisa Hahner decided — spontaneously, they insist — to join hands as they crossed the finish line deep in the pack and far from the medals, they quickly drew sharp criticism.
但在周日的女子馬拉松比賽中,當(dāng)既是雙胞胎又是訓(xùn)練伙伴的德國選手安娜·哈納和麗莎·哈納(Anna and Lisa Hahner) 決定——她們堅(jiān)稱是自然而然地決定——在眾多落后選手當(dāng)中攜手跨過終點(diǎn),且成績遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不足以拿到獎(jiǎng)牌的時(shí)候,她們很快就招致了尖銳的批評。
German track and field officials accused them of publicity seeking and treating the Olympic marathon “like a fun run.”
德國田徑官員指責(zé)兩人炒作,以“跑著玩兒”的態(tài)度對待奧運(yùn)會(huì)的馬拉松項(xiàng)目。
This is not just a German point of view, of course, but it does reflect the range of expectations as athletes navigate the cultural norms that relate to competition and sportsmanship.
當(dāng)然了,這不僅僅是德國人看待問題的角度,它還反映出,當(dāng)運(yùn)動(dòng)員面對關(guān)乎競爭和體育精神的文化規(guī)范時(shí),人們的預(yù)期是多種多樣的。
The Egyptian judoka Islam El Shehaby, who refused to shake the hand of his Israeli opponent Or Sasson, was following his nation’s standards — one that Olympic officials expressly reject. He was ejected from the Games.
埃及柔道選手伊斯拉姆·蘇哈比(Islam El Shehaby)拒絕跟來自以色列的對手奧爾·沙森(Or Sasson)握手,是在遵循其祖國的行事標(biāo)準(zhǔn)——而奧林匹克官員顯然并不認(rèn)可這種標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。他被逐出了本屆奧運(yùn)會(huì)。
There was no outcry, only amusement, when David Katoatau, an exuberant weight lifter from Kirabati, danced offstage on Monday with the goal of heightening awareness of the threat posed by climate change to his tiny nation in the central Pacific Ocean.
周一,當(dāng)基里巴斯那位興高采烈的舉重選手戴維·卡托亞陶(David Katoatau)在賽場上跳起舞來,想讓外界更加關(guān)注氣候變化對這個(gè)位于太平洋中央的小國造成的威脅時(shí),人們并未一片嘩然,只是覺得有趣。
The Hahner twins had no political agenda when they joined hands to end their race, but their move, to their surprise, was still polarizing.
雙胞胎哈納姐妹牽手越過終點(diǎn)之舉,并沒有任何政治意圖,但外界對其舉動(dòng)的看法卻呈兩極分化之勢,這讓她們非常吃驚。
“Victory and medals are not the only goal,” Thomas Kurschilgen, sports director of the German Athletics Federation, said in an email on Tuesday. “Still, every athlete in the Olympic competitions should be motivated to demonstrate his or her best performance and aim for the best possible result.”
“勝利和獎(jiǎng)牌并非唯一的目標(biāo),”德國田徑聯(lián)合會(huì)運(yùn)動(dòng)主管托馬斯·庫爾席爾根(Thomas Kurschilgen)周二在郵件中表示。“不過,奧運(yùn)賽場上的每名運(yùn)動(dòng)員都應(yīng)該積極地拿出最好表現(xiàn),并以盡其所能獲得佳績?yōu)槟繕?biāo)。”
That approach, according to Kurschilgen, is what divides elite sport from mass-participation sport and what he thinks the Hahners failed to grasp.
庫爾席爾根認(rèn)為,這種態(tài)度讓精英體育有別于大眾參與式體育,但在他看來,哈納姐妹并未領(lǐng)會(huì)這一點(diǎn)。
“Their main aim was to generate media attention,” he said. “That is what we criticize.”
“她們的主要目標(biāo)是吸引媒體的注意,”他說。“我們批評的正是這一點(diǎn)。”
The twins, who placed 81st and 82nd in the marathon, do not see it that way. Contacted on Monday, they initially declined to speak, but Anna Hahner later sent an email in which she said they had not planned on finishing hand-in-hand and had done their best individually.
在馬拉松比賽中分獲第81名和82名的這對雙胞胎姐妹并不這么看。記者周一聯(lián)系采訪時(shí),她們起初拒絕置評,但安娜·哈納隨后發(fā)來了一封郵件。她在信中表示,她們并非計(jì)劃好了要手牽手越過終點(diǎn),而且都在賽場上盡了最大努力。
“In all the marathons we ran together before, there was a point in the race we had to split up,” Anna said. “This was also the case in the Olympic marathon.”
“在一同參加過的所有馬拉松比賽中,我們在某個(gè)時(shí)刻總是不得不分開,”安娜說。“這次在奧運(yùn)賽場上也是如此。”
Anna said she started faster, and then Lisa’s group caught up with her at around the 17-kilometer mark, at which point Anna said they ran about 3 kilometers together.
安娜說,她起初跑得更快一些,但在17公里標(biāo)示牌附近,麗莎那撥人趕了上來,從那時(shí)起她們倆一起跑了大約3公里。
“But then I realized I couldn’t run this pace, and I had to let them go,” Anna said. “Lisa was always not far from me. After 40 kilometers, there was a turning point, and I knew, ‘OK Anna, 2 kilometers to go to close the gap to Lisa.’ I invested all I had and 300 meters before the finish line, I was next to Lisa. It was a magical moment that we could finish this marathon together. We did not think about what we were doing.”
“但接著我就意識(shí)到自己沒法以這種速度跑下去,我必須讓她們先走,”安娜說。“麗莎一直沒有離我太遠(yuǎn)。跑了4萬米之后,折返點(diǎn)出現(xiàn)了,我心想,‘好的,安娜,還有2000米可以用來趕上麗莎。’我拼盡了全力,在距離終點(diǎn)線還有300米的地方,跑到了麗莎身后。一起沖過終點(diǎn)線,是非常神奇的一刻。我們當(dāng)時(shí)并沒有考慮自己在做什么。”
But Anna said the symbolism was not lost on either twin. “We trained the last four years to participate in this marathon,” she said. “Neither the time nor the position was what made us happy but to know that we did the best that was possible that day.”
不過安娜也表示,這場比賽對她們并非沒有象征意義。“為了參加這場馬拉松,我們訓(xùn)練了四年,”她說。“但讓我們開心的不是跑完全程的用時(shí)和名次,而是知道我們盡最大努力實(shí)現(xiàn)了那天所能取得的最好成績。”
And yet the sisters were well short of their best marathon performances. Anna’s personal best in the marathon is 2 hours 26 minutes 44 seconds. Lisa’s is 2:28.39. In Rio, Anna finished in 2:45.32, and Lisa in 2:45.33 despite coming early to the Olympic city to acclimatize.
不過,這對姐妹遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)沒有達(dá)到她們此前的最佳水平。安娜在馬拉松賽事上的個(gè)人最好成績是2小時(shí)26分44秒。麗莎是2小時(shí)28分39秒。在里約奧運(yùn)會(huì)上,安娜以2小時(shí)45分32秒的時(shí)間跑完全程,麗莎跑了2小時(shí)45分33秒,盡管她們很早就來到了舉辦奧運(yùn)的這座城市適應(yīng)比賽環(huán)境。
Clearly, the large time gap between their previous performances and their Olympic performances made Kurschilgen and others only more convinced that they were not seeing the twins’ best effort.
顯然,她們此前的表現(xiàn)和這次奧運(yùn)會(huì)成績的巨大差距只會(huì)讓庫爾席爾根等人更加確信,他們看到的不是這對雙胞胎姐妹的最佳表現(xiàn)。
There is a school of thought at the Olympics and elsewhere that it can be better for an athlete’s profile and even their bottom line to lose memorably — however unintentionally — than to win routinely. D’Agostino and Hamblin would not have become global talking points on Tuesday if they had simply collided and soldiered on without interacting.
在奧運(yùn)會(huì)和其他領(lǐng)域有這么一種思想:相比于常規(guī)地贏得勝利,讓人印象深刻地失敗——不管有多么地?zé)o心——可能對一個(gè)運(yùn)動(dòng)員的形象、乃至獲得的最終評價(jià)更加有利。如果達(dá)戈斯蒂諾和漢布林只是撞到一起然后各自堅(jiān)持跑完全程,而不是相互扶持,她們不會(huì)在周二成為全球討論的熱點(diǎn)。
Nor would the British runner Derek Redmond have become part of an “Olympic moment” if he had simply won his 400 semifinal at the 1992 Olympics instead of tearing his hamstring and insisting on continuing the race. His father came onto the track to assist him as he hobbled to the finish with the Barcelona crowd cheering him on. Even though Redmond was disqualified for receiving outside aid, the image and the memory were and remain powerful.
倘若英國賽跑選手德里克·雷蒙德(Derek Redmond)在1992年奧運(yùn)會(huì)的400米半決賽中直接勝出,而非在腳筋撕裂的情況下堅(jiān)持完成比賽,他也不會(huì)成為“奧運(yùn)時(shí)刻”的一部分。他的父親來到賽場上,協(xié)助他一瘸一拐地走到了終點(diǎn),巴塞羅那現(xiàn)場的觀眾一路為他歡呼加油。盡管雷蒙德最終因接受場外援助被取消了比賽資格,但他樹立起的形象和給人們留下的記憶在當(dāng)時(shí)影響很大,至今依然如此。
It is the unexpected and uncalculated gesture that so often moves the masses most, no matter what the culture.
這種出人意料、未經(jīng)事先籌劃的舉動(dòng)往往才是最讓大眾感動(dòng)的,不管是在什么樣的文化背景下。